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Eating ConcernsWellesley College is a supportive community that seeks to foster the intellectual, physical, and emotional well being of women. In keeping with this ideal, students, staff, and faculty realize the intense need for support and education around the topics of weight, body image, and eating disorders. We have found that the pressures which accompany being in an intense academic environment, especially among women, can lead to an increased emphasis on food, body image, and exercise. College students are faced with new living and eating situations. In a small community such as Wellesley, students often compare living and eating habits. Unfortunately, these comparisons can lead to obsession.
On Campus Resources For Eating Concerns
A body image that's unrealistic, exploitive, and unhealthyShe's skinny, perfectly proportioned-with beautiful hair, glowing skin, fabulous makeup, and the best clothes that money can buy. This may be an ideal that some of us strive to achieve. But it sets a standard that leaves most of us feeling inadequate and unsatisfied with the bodies that we have. Whatever our beliefs about the exploitation of women, we must all be aware that society-and especially the media-portray an image of women that is both unrealistic and potentially unhealthy for the vast majority of women. The billion-dollar diet industry tells us constantly in many ways that we need to lose weight. They say that with the proper help- and at the proper price-we can achieve what each weight-loss program has to offer. Yet evidence indicates that weight loss through dieting is almost always put back on. And the original weight is often exceeded. We know all of this. Yet many of us continue to strive to look like the person we think we want to be. Maybe if we can just lose the weight, we will be a "success." We will be the attractive person others want to be with. Secure. Sexy. Professional. And more. What we are not good at telling ourselves is that we can be sexy, professional, and self-assured without relentlessly driving ourselves to be thin. In fact, we are okay the way we are. Back to Taking Care of Yourself Should You Be Concerned About Your Eating? Ask yourself the following questions, answering each one always, often, sometimes, or never.
If you answered "often" or "always" to questions 11 or 12 or to
any three of the other questions, it would make sense to talk with a
professional. Healthy Eating & Exercise Nutrition plays an important role in one’s physical and emotional
health. If one is to feel satisfied, energized, and able to concentrate, nutritional balance is needed. It is best to eat every four hours or so,
combining small amounts of protein (such as lean meats, legumes, tofu and peanut butter)
and carbohydrates (such as whole grains) throughout the day. Be sure to include five
servings of fruits and vegetables. Other essentials include four servings of
milk or yogurt for calcium per day, and small amounts of fat. The science and
art of nutrition must be combined to maintain physical as well as psychological
satisfaction. (Source: Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health -- NIH Consensus Conference JAMA, July 17, 1996 -- Vol 276, No.3) DietingNinety percent of dieters are not overweight. Yet many women have extensive experience with dieting, and girls are beginning to diet as early as age nine. Dieting (or restrictive eating) is not the same as being careful about what you eat. Frequent dieting makes it difficult to lose weight because the resting metabolic rate becomes progressively lower with the restriction of food intake. Restrictions may lead to bingeing behaviors, which in turn may promote weight gain, and the possibility of an eating disorder. Twenty-five years of medical research indicate that diets don’t produce lasting results. After two years, ninety-five percent of dieters regain their lost weight, and may even gain some additional pounds. The concept of yo-yo dieting (going on and off diets) may pose some health risk, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes later on. Some obesity researchers indicate that being fifteen pounds heavier than average consistently is less risky than losing and regaining the fifteen pounds over and over again. The best approach to weight loss is to change eating behaviors and improve exercise patterns. Choosing more fruits and vegetables and fewer sweets over the course of a week is a good first step in changing behavior. Maintaining the exercise level described above is another. How to Recognize an Eating Disorder Sometimes the preoccupation with losing weight becomes overwhelming. Many women seem to be caught up in an obsession with some desired goal. To reach that goal, we may starve ourselves (Anorexia). We may also eat large quantities and then, from our fear of getting fat, feel the need to purge to get rid of the food (Bulimia). We may exercise excessively to burn calories. We may repeatedly binge on large quantities of food without purging (Binge Eating Disorder.) Or we may simply feel guilty for the food we have eaten. When our relationship with food and weight becomes more important than our relationships, studying, or other activities, the borderline has been crossed. Patterns of dealing with food may become ingrained in a way that limits our activities and cuts us off from healthier pursuits. At this point, these patterns have become addictions and have taken on a life of their own. Back to Taking Care of Yourself Anorexia Anorexics restrict their eating, and are noticeably underweight, but when they look at their skinny bodies in the mirror, they see only the bulges. Although often hungry, they feel overweight and are intensely fearful of gaining weight. The goal is always to lose more pounds. This distortion can affect other areas of their lives as well, often seeing themselves as deficient if not doing perfect academic work, for example. Aside from the small percentage who actually starve to death, risks associated with anorexia include prolonged loss of the menstrual period and the resultant irreversible loss of bone density, loss of intellectual functioning due to inadequate nutrition, the development of body hair, and loss of skin tone, along with the preoccupation with food and weight loss. Bulimia Although the original definition of bulimia emphasized the binge eating, we have come to include purging in our understanding of the disorder. Purging generally, though not always, follows a binge and may come from induced vomiting, taking laxatives or compulsive over-exercising. The goal is to get rid of calories. Bulimics tend to have a better sense of their actual body size and shape than anorexics, but they also are preoccupied with food, the next binge, the next purge. Many feel disgust or shame at their behavior and then go to great lengths to maintain secrecy. Risks for vomiters include serious electrolyte imbalances, swollen glands, dental destruction, stomach and esophageal damage. For laxative users, damage to the lower intestinal tract and colon is a danger. Back to Taking Care of Yourself Overeating Healthy eating means eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied, but what if achieving it seems virtually impossible? People eat for a variety of reasons: some eat as an emotional coping mechanism, others eat for physiological reasons. Overeating is eating beyond what your body needs. Compulsive overeating is the persistent practice of overeating. It is important to identify the reasons we eat, recognizing that one food, meal or day of overeating will not make someone overweight! One must remember that no one food is bad, if most of what is eaten offers balance. Exercising Regular exercise is good for everyone, and a healthy exercise program is beneficial. However, over-exercising can become a problem. Women who exercise compulsively generally also have inflexible eating patterns and are obsessed with their weight. These women often are perfectionists and have a great desire for control. The following are traits that many compulsive exercisers exhibit. They are also common to some people who abuse food, whether they are compulsive exercisers or not. Do these traits sound familiar? Back to Taking Care of Yourself Characteristics of Some Eating Disorders
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